“A stunning book on every level . . . as a coming-of-age story it is a triumph; as an exploration of racial inequality and the sharp edge of American history it is moving and enlightening; as a deconstruction of Southern myth into reality it is vibrant.”
Brit Mandelo, Tor.com

“Sherman's antebellum story exposes a wide sweep through a narrow aperture, where the arbitrary nature of race and ownership, kindred and love, are illuminated in the harsh seeking glare of an adolescent's coming of age.”
—Cory Doctorow, BoingBoing

“Plantation life for whites and blacks unfolds in compelling, often excruciating detail. A departure from Sherman’s light fantasy Changeling (2006), this is a powerfully unsettling, intertextual take on historical time-travel fantasy.”
—Kirkus Reviews

"While heartache thrums throughout the book . . . there is the clear bell of hope, that sound in children’s literature that is too tough to destroy.”
—Peter Marino, The Pirate Tree

"An important book and a brave, intelligent, compassionately written one…A story that transports, a good read that will draw you on and on."
—Jen Miller, Fantasy Matters

"Sherman's keen eye and ear for detail and the subtle deeper levels prove she is a writer well worth reading...This is a novel worth checking out: a fine exemplar of a well-written children’s book."
—Trent Walters, SF Site

“A wonderful, ambitious book, 18 years in the writing . . . . What Sherman relies on most is the discipline of a fantasy writer's imagination.”
—Kelly Cogswell, Huffington Post